One of my painting instructors criticized my use of “out of the tube” colors. His argument was that I wasn’t experimenting with mixing colors. I felt like arguing that I’d been painting for 25 years and had certainly done far more color mixing experimentation than he could see from the work I presented in his 10-week class, but I realized that it wouldn’t matter to him because he wasn’t there to see it. So I did what he asked of me to shut him up, ended up with a few paintings I didn’t really like and subsequently painted over them. Every time I have seen this instructor after I finished his class, he has asked me, “Are you still painting?”

I don’t have the heart to tell him that I had painted for over two decades prior to his class and I don’t paint because his class made me feel inspired to paint. Nor did it inspire me to stop painting, despite his well-intentioned criticism.